It's a $79 reader. By the time it goes you just buy a new one by that time the price will probably have dropped considerably.

The Kindle 4 battery life is fine.
I get 18 days out of mine with WiFi off unless I need it. I read from 7pm to 11pm most nights and I just finished the entire Stephanie Plum series which is 18 books on a single charge.

I don't see any evidence that eReaders will be so much better five years from now than today that I would want to throw away my device. I want the option to decide on repair or replace rather than have it forced on me.

With monochrome screen PC's and PDA's, by the time they died, they were no longer made.

That would be because they were replaced with something better. Why stick with old technology. Look at the readers from 3 years ago compared to today much less a computer from 5 years ago. They've improved leaps & bounds. Why bother repairing old technology? It'll always be cheaper to buy newer than repair older.

It just doesn't make any sense to concern yourself with replacing a battery on something 5 years down the road when a far superior device will surely exist and be cheaper to buy than to replace or repair the 5 year old unit.

I don't see any evidence that eReaders will be so much better five years from now than today that I would want to throw away my device. I want the option to decide on repair or replace rather than have it forced on me.

It's a $79 dollar reader. By the time it dies buy a new one. These aren't made to last for years to come. I wouldn't worry about battery on the K4. I'd worried about the page turn buttons wearing out. Mine's already has page turn issues. I can't see the page turn buttons lasting long enough to worry about the battery.

You get a full year warranty on it and by then if you have problems you can upgrade to something better or buy another one.

Look at the readers from 3 years ago compared to today much less a computer from 5 years ago. They've improved leaps & bounds.

If what you want to do is read texts such as books, essays, and news stories, I question that for both eReaders and computers. Re eReaders, yes, eInk Pearl was an improvement. So was moving from US-only cell-phone-network access in the original Kindle to seamless international access in the Kindle 2 and 3. But going from keyboard to Touch wasn't an obvious improvement, or an obvious bad thing -- just a change. And taking away 3G access to news and essay web sites between the Kindle 3 and Touch was an example of getting worse. The Fire is far worse than earlier Kindles for my needs.

Amazon's strategy is to start out in books and than move to larger revenue sources. Future products will be optimized for manga and children's books and video and, above all, buying stuff over the Internet, not for pure text. Maybe Amazon will continue to produce black and white devices for those interested, but the history of the computer industry suggests otherwise.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blossom

I wouldn't worry about battery on the K4. I'd worried about the page turn buttons wearing out.

This is a trend that continues to confound me. I guess an 80 dollar device can be viewed as disposable. But Amazon also does not have a policy for replacing Fire batteries, so I assume they are disposable too. Same for Sony readers and many tablets. It's not just an Amazon thing.

Sure, there will be better tech available when these devices die. But their primary purpose is to read books and tech improvements aren't really going to make a big difference in how that works.

The devices will only be "obsolete" in the fact that they will not function.

We are a crazy society that accepts disposable $200 electronics.

Well I'm off to drink some tap water I picked up at the store for a couple bucks (but it's in a nifty plastic bottle!)